Biodiesel production from wild olive oil using TPA decorated Cr–Al acid heterogeneous catalyst.

[Display omitted] • Low-cost local wild olive oil was chosen as a hopeful raw material. • TPA decorated mixed oxide catalyst was developed for biodiesel production. • The wild olive biodiesel completely complied with the international standard. • The characteristics of the designed catalyst was thoroughly investigated. In the present work, wild olive (Olea oleaster) plant oil was chosen as a hopeful feedstock for efficient biodiesel production. Mixed oxides of aluminium and chromium were modified with different amounts (10−40 wt.%) of 12-tungstophosphonic acid (TPA), used for biodiesel production from low cost local wild olive oil (WOO). Moreover, the physicochemical characteristics of the synthesized catalysts were elaborated with different analytical techniques such as XRD, SEM, EDX, BET. The biodiesel reaction was carried out in a single step via trans-esterification reaction using TPA impregnated Cr–Al mixed oxide catalyst. The maximum 93% biodiesel yield was obtained under the optimized conditions: oil/methanol molar ratio 1:21, reaction temperature 80 °C, catalyst dosage 4 wt% and reaction times 5 hrs with stirring speed of 600 rpm. Interestingly, the reusability experiments showed that the synthesized catalyst sustained remarkable stability and reusability up to 5 runs in the biodiesel production from wild olive oil. Furthermore, the synthesized biodiesel completely complied with international standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]